Insulin in Milk – a Comparative Study

ABSTRACT As drinking camel milk for treatment of diabetes is common practice and as it was previously found that camel milk has large concentrations of insulin, a project was carried out to examine this phenomenon. Colostrum and milk of various mammals were examined for insulin and the effect of camel milk on blood sugar levels of laboratory rats was examined. It was found that colostrums contained much higher levels of insulin than milk. In all mammalian milk examined there were relatively high concentrations of insulin. It was further found that in starved laboratory animals who were fasted and thirsted for 24hr, causing endogenous insulin to be low, camel milk cause a decline in blood sugar. This decline was temporary as lactose was converted to glucose and the absorbed, pushing blood glucose up to normal. It is concluded that although all milks had insulin, the fact that only camel milk is unaffected by gastric acid allows it to pass into the intestines where it is apparently absorbed.